ZAMBOANGA CITY – A 40-year-old battered wife has been charged with parricide after she hacked her husband to death because he had allegedly tried to force her to get drunk with him, the authorities said Saturday.
Chief Inspector Ariel Huesca, spokesman of
the Western Mindanao Regional Police Office, said Marife Titoh told
investigators she hacked her husband Doming to death because she could no longer
take physical abuse from him.
The hacking happened in the village of
Looc Labuan village in Tungawan, Zamboanga Sibugay, on July 11 while Doming was
on a drinking binge.
“The victim was under the influence of
liquor. He was drunk and he was forcing his wife to drink tuba or coconut wine.
The wife refused to drink and that resulted to a heated argument between the
couple. The wife grabbed a bolo and hacked her husband several times,” Huesca
said.
He said Doming, who suffered multiple hack
wounds, died while being transferred from a nearby hospital to Zamboanga City
for further medical attention.
Dr. Ederlinda Fernandez, president of the
Women’s Studies Association of the Philippines and vice president for planning,
administration and finance at the Western Mindanao State University, said
Marifeh Titoh “is suffering from battered wife syndrome.”
“Women victims of repeated physical abuse
have the tendency to fight back as self defense and sometimes they become very
violent,” Fernandez said.
